Improvement in wrenches



' whereby the said jaw may be moved or operlmovement upon the same. Formed upon that PATENT OFFICE.

HEZEKIAH DODGE, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN WRENCHES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 59,370, dated November 6, 1866.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, HEZEKIAH DODGE, of the city and county of Albany and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Screw-Wrenches; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a side view and partial longitudinal section of a screw-wrench constructedP according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of a portion of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

This invention consists in a novel means of operating the sliding jaw of a screw-wrench,

ated much more expeditiously than in the wrenches heretofore in use, and without detracting in the least from the rigidity with which the said jaw is held in place or from the strength and stiffness of the several parts of the wrench.

To enable others to understand the construction and operation of my invention, I will proceed to describe it with reference to the drawings.

A` represents the shank of the wrench, which is quadrangular in its cross-section and has the xed jaw B formed upon its outer end. C indicates the sliding jaw, which is placed upon the shankA and has a longitudinal sliding end of the shank A opposite the fixed jaw B is a tapering tang, a, on which is secured the handle b, which may be of wood or other sui-table material. The innermost end of this tan g is made with hat sides a and with rounded corners b', and the adjacent end of the shank A constitutes a shoulder, c', as shown in Fig. 2. D is a strong ferrule, which is situated upon the innermost portion of the tang A, the inner endof the hole or slot of the said ferrule being tted snugly upon the :tlat sides a in such manner 'as to prevent the ferrule from turning around, while the opposite end of the said hole is enlarged, so as to form an annular cavity around the tang, into which the inner end of the handle b is driven, as at c', so as to firmly hold the ferrule in place, the said ferrule being also held between the shoulder c and a shoulder, d', formed upon the handle b, near the inner end of the same, as shown in the aforesaid Fig. 2. One side of the ferrule D is extended outward in line with the jaws B C, as shown at o; and projecting inward from the inner surface of this part c, and in a position parallel with the shank A, is a screw, E; and projecting back or inward from the back or rear surface of the sliding jaw C, and in line with the screw E, is a similar screw, F. This screw F is of the same pitch as the screw E, but has its thread running in an opposite direction, as shown in Fig. 1 or, in other words, the two screws aforesaid constitute a pair of right and left hand screws. sents a tubular nut, in each end of which is formed a female screw, the threads of the two female screws thus formed being also right and left hand, and one of them being fitted upon.

the screw E, while the other is tted upon the screw F, in such manner that by turning the nut G in one direction the said nut will be screwed back upon the screw E at the same time that the screw F is being screwed inward at the opposite end thereof, so that at each revolution of the nut G the sliding jaw Gis brought away from the fixed jaw B a distance equal to the aggregate of the pitch of the two screws E F, or, in other words, a distance twice as great as would be the case if but one such screw were employed to operate the aforesaid sliding jaw. In like manner, by turning the nut .G in the opposite direction it will be screwed or advanced toward the inner end of the screw E, while the screw F will be moved outward at the opposite end of the said nut, thus causing the sliding jaw C to approach the fixed jaw B with the same relative speed with which it was drawn away from the same, as just set forth.

By this means the sliding jaw O may be adjusted with much greater facility than in the screw-wrenches heretofore devised, while the strength of the wrench is in nowise impaired, inasmuch as even when the two jaws thereof are brought closely together a sufficient length of each of the screws E Fremains within the G reprenut G to properly stiien the said parts in brae- I the tubular nut G, sliding jaw G, ferrule D, ing the sliding jaw against the strain exerted and shank A,substa.ntial1y as herein set forth, upon it when the wrench is used. for the purpose speoied.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure HEZ. DODGE.

by Letters Patent, is Witnesses:

The two right and left hand screws E F, l P. L. GILBERT, combined in relation with each other and with E. S. NEAR.

...fai 

